makeshift

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make·shift

(māk′shĭft′)

adj.

Suitable as a temporary or expedient substitute: used a rock as a makeshift hammer.

A temporary or expedient substitute for something else: lacked a cane but used a stick as a makeshift.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

makeshift

(ˈmeɪkˌʃɪft)

adj

serving as a temporary or expedient means, esp during an emergency

something serving in this capacity

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

make•shift

(ˈmeɪkˌʃɪft)

n.

1. a temporary expedient or substitute.

adj.

2. being or serving as a makeshift.

[1555–65]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	makeshift - something contrived to meet an urgent need or emergency make-do, stopgap expedient - a means to an end; not necessarily a principled or ethical one
Adj.	1.	makeshift - done or made using whatever is available; "crossed the river on improvised bridges"; "the survivors used jury-rigged fishing gear"; "the rock served as a makeshift hammer" improvised, jury-rigged impermanent, temporary - not permanent; not lasting; "politics is an impermanent factor of life"- James Thurber; "impermanent palm cottages"; "a temperary arrangement"; "temporary housing"

makeshift

adjective temporary, provisional, make-do, substitute, jury (chiefly Nautical), expedient, rough and ready, stopgap the makeshift shelters of the homeless

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

makeshift

noun

Something used temporarily or reluctantly when other means are not available:

expediency, expedient, shift, stopgap.

Translations

بَديل مُؤَقَّت

provizorní

midlertidig

Notbehelf

de fortune

ideiglenes

bráîabirgîa-

makeshift

[ˈmeɪkʃɪft]

A. ADJ (= improvised) → improvisado; (= provisional) → provisional

B. N → arreglo m provisional

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

makeshift

[ˈmeɪkʃɪft] adj [camp, shelter, weapon] → de fortunemake-up makeup [ˈmeɪkʌp] n

(= cosmetics) → maquillage m

(= character) [person] → caractère m

[substance, thing] → constitution f
the chemical make-up of the atmosphere → la constitution chimique de l'atmosphèremake-up artist n → maquilleur/euse m/fmake-up bag n → trousse f de maquillagemake-up remover n → démaquillant m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

makeshift

adj → improvisiert; office → provisorisch; weapon, tool, repairs → behelfsmäßig; makeshift accommodation → Notunterkunft f; makeshift hospital → Notkrankenhaus nt

n → Übergangslösung f, → Notbehelf m ? shift N d

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

makeshift

[ˈmeɪkˌʃɪft] adj → di fortuna, improvvisato/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

make

(meik) – past tense, past participle made (meid) – verb

1. to create, form or produce. God made the Earth; She makes all her own clothes; He made it out of paper; to make a muddle/mess of the job; to make lunch/coffee; We made an arrangement/agreement/deal/bargain.

2. to compel, force or cause (a person or thing to do something). They made her do it; He made me laugh.

3. to cause to be. I made it clear; You've made me very unhappy.

4. to gain or earn. He makes $100 a week; to make a profit.

5. (of numbers etc) to add up to; to amount to. 2 and 2 make(s) 4.

6. to become, turn into, or be. He'll make an excellent teacher.

7. to estimate as. I make the total 483.

8. to appoint, or choose, as. He was made manager.

9. used with many nouns to give a similar meaning to that of the verb from which the noun is formed. He made several attempts (= attempted several times); They made a left turn (= turned left); He made (= offered) a suggestion/proposal; Have you any comments to make?

noun

a (usually manufacturer's) brand. What make is your new car?

ˈmaker noun

a person who makes. a tool-maker; a dressmaker.

ˈmaking noun

the process of producing or forming something. glassmaking; (also adjective) the road-making industry.

ˌmake-beˈlieve noun

the act or art of pretending and imagining. a world of make-believe; (also adjective) a make-believe world.

ˈmake-ˌover noun

a (complete) change in a person's appearance made by cosmetic treatment, new hairstyle, new clothes etc.

ˈmakeshift adjective

temporary and usually of poor quality. a makeshift garden shed.

ˈmake-up noun

1. cosmetics applied to the face etc. She never wears any make-up.

2. the set, or combination, of characteristics or ingredients that together form something, eg a personality; composition. Violence is just not part of his make-up.

have the makings of

to have the clear ability for becoming. Your son has the makings of an engineer.

in the making

being made or formed at this very moment. A revolution is in the making.

make a/one's bed

to tidy and straighten the sheets, blankets etc on a bed after it has been used. The children make their own beds every morning.

make believe

to pretend (that). The children made believe they were animals.

make do (with with)

to use something as a poor-quality or temporary alternative to the real thing. There's no meat, so we'll have to make do with potatoes.

make for

to go towards. We're making for home.

make it

to be successful. After twenty years, we've finally made it.

make it up

1. to become friends again after a quarrel. It's time you two made it up (with each other).

2. to give compensation or make amends for something. I'm sorry – I'll make it up to you somehow.

make (something) of (something)

to understand (something) by or from (something). What do you make of all this?

make out

1. to see, hear or understand. He could make out a ship in the distance.

2. to make it seem that. He made out that he was earning a huge amount of money.

3. to write or fill in. The doctor made out a prescription.

4. (slang) to kiss, hug and caress; to neck. They were making out in the back seat.

make over

(American) to change something or turn it into something else. They made over the room as an office; The plastic surgeon made her face over.

make up

1. to invent. He made up the whole story.

2. to compose or be part(s) of. The group was made up of doctors and lawyers.

3. to complete. We need one more player – will you make up the number(s)?

4. to apply cosmetics to (the face). I don't like to see women making up (their faces) in public.

5. to become friends again (after a quarrel etc). They've finally made up (their disagreement).

make up for

to supply a reward, substitute etc for disappointment, damage, loss (of money or time) etc. Next week we'll try to make up for lost time.

make up one's mind

to make a decision. He finally made up his mind about the job.

make up to

to try to gain the favour or love of by flattery etc. She's always making up to the teacher by bringing him presents.

made of is used in speaking of the material from which an object is constructed etc: This table is made of wood/plastic/steel .
made from is used in speaking of the raw material from which something has been produced by a process of manufacture: Paper is made from wood/rags .

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

"An inn, Miss Emily; a lonely inn, somewhere in the country; and a comfortless room at the inn, with a makeshift bed at one end of it, and a makeshift bed at the other--I give you my word of honor, that was how your aunt put it.

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And all my wandering and mountain-climbing: a necessity was it merely, and a makeshift of the unhandy one:--to FLY only, wanteth mine entire will, to fly into THEE!

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I thought the windows of the sets of chambers into which those houses were divided, were in every stage of dilapidated blind and curtain, crippled flower-pot, cracked glass, dusty decay, and miserable makeshift; while To Let To Let To Let, glared at me from empty rooms, as if no new wretches ever came there, and the vengeance of the soul of Barnard were being slowly appeased by the gradual suicide of the present occupants and their unholy interment under the gravel.

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Even steam-thawing, as yet untried, but bound to come, he saw would be a makeshift. What should be done was to hydraulic the valley sides and benches, and then, on the creek bottom, to use gold-dredges such as he had heard described as operating in California.

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But he opened the volume which he first took from the shelf: somehow, one is apt to read in a makeshift attitude, just where it might seem inconvenient to do so.

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There were a lot of children about and a good many babies, some in makeshift cradles, some tucked up in a rug on the soft brown dry earth.

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There would be no more hard labour at ship-building, and no risking their lives upon a crudely built makeshift that would be quite as likely to go to the bottom as it would to reach the mainland.

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"The hack-work is only makeshift, and I don't take it seriously.

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But it struck that shallow makeshift note that is so often heard in the modem dwelling-place.

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All in all, Ja was an impressive and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable makeshift language we were compelled to use.

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(5) The existing text of the vineyard scene is a compound of two different versions, clumsily adapted, and eked out with some makeshift additions.

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As the profession became better organized and as the plays gained in quality, such makeshift accommodations became more and more unsatisfactory; but there were special difficulties in the way of securing better ones in London.